Spring package unit for car trucks



J. H. CARVER SPRING PACKAGE UNIT FOR CAR TRUCKS May 21, 1957 '2 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Aug. 27. 1954 INVENTOR, .JZ/57/A H MEVEE May 21, 1957 J. H. CARVER I SPRING PACKAGE UNIT FOR CAR TRUCKS Filed Aug. 27. 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

fZ/577/VH CAEVZ/Q BY a; g

I (5)1 'IIIIIIIIII United States Patent 2,73,030 SlRING PACKAGE UNIT FOR CAR TRUCKS Justin H. Carver, Maple Heights, Ohio, assignor to National Malieable and Steel Castings Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application August 27, 1954, Serial 0. 512,651 5 Claims. (Cl. 261-9 This invention relates to a spring package unit having friction control means for use in railway car trucks of the type wherein the bolster is spring-supported on the truck side frames.

My invention provides an improvement over the construction of a spring package unit shown in the application of James A. Shafer, Serial No. 397,836, filed December 14, 1953. The invention comprises a novel spring package unit which is adapted for use in a railway car truck and which may be readily applied to existing conventional car truck constructions wherein no friction means is provided for damping the oscillation of the bolster supporting springs.

It is an object of my invention to provide in a spring package unit a cap member having openings therein through which the friction means of the unit is applied.

Another object of my invention is to provide a spring package unit which is simple and easy to assemble and install, eliminating the necessity of special assembly and installation tools.

A further object of my invention is to provide a spring package unit capable of pie-assembly, utilizing standard A. A. R. (Association of American Railroads) bolster springs and adaptable to. any conventional car truck (in which the bolster ismerely spring supported on the side frame) without any change being made to the car truck or its components:

The foregoing and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherem:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of the spring package unit embodying my invention, taken. along line 1-1 of Fig. 4, with the friction means shown partially in exploded relation.

Fig.2 is a top plan view of the spring cap member of the spring package unit.

Fig. 3 illustrates a spring package unit embodying my invention applied to a railway car truck.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the unit taken along line 4-4' in Fig. 3, the side frame being omitted.

Referring to the drawings, my spring package unit comprises a spring seat member it? and a spring cap member 12 between which is positioned a group of inner and outercoil springs 14 and 16, which'maybe standard A. A. R. bolster springs. These springs are positioned by spring centering lugs 18 on-thecap and seatmembers.

Spring cap memberltZ, as seenin Figs. 1 and 2, comprises a flat top wall 20, the underside of which engages the upper ends of springs 14- and 16 and a centrally disposed depending box portion 22 which is formed by spaced end and side walls 24 and 26. Diagonal walls 28 forming continuations of end walls 24 extend down wardly and inwardly toward spring seat member 10. The middle portion of side walls 26 is made slightly convex as at 31 to accommodate center spring housing 30. Top wall 20, side walls 26, endwalls 24 and diagonal walls'28 define depending box portion 22 and more specifically, a pair of wedge receiving pockets 42 which open towardcenter spring housing 30. Top ribs"32 serve to reinforce the juncture ofside walls 26 and top" wan in like manner.

2,793,013 Patented May 21, 1-957 20; Spring cap member 12 is provided with a pair of openings 48 in top wall 20, each opening providing access to pocket 42 therebelow. It is preferred to have openings 48 in spring cap member 12 disposed directly above pockets 42, although it will be understood that the openings are not necessarily restricted thereto.

Spring seat member 10 comprises a base portion 34, on which the lower ends of springs 14 and 16 rest, and a centrally disposed upwardly projecting center spring housing 30. Spring housing 30 is substantially circular in horizontal cross-section and contains vertical ribs 36 on opposite sides thereof to which vertically extending friction wear plates 38 are secured. The lower edges of wear plates 38 are supported by ledges 37 on housing 30. i

The friction means comprises a pair of friction wedges 40 which are disposed in pockets 42, each wedge being urged into engagement with wear plate 38 on spring housing 30 and with the inner side of diagonal wall 28 of spring cap member 12 by outer and inner wedge springs 44 and 46. Each wedge comprises a fiat friction wedge face 70 in slidable engagement with vertically disposed wear plate 38 and a vertically crowned wedge face 72 engaging the inner side of diagonal wall 23. Face 72 is crowned vertically so as to permit the wedge to rock'relative to diagonal wall 28, thus assuring full surface contact between flat face 70 and wear plate 33. Wedge springs 44 and 46 extend upwardly through openings 48 in spring cap member 12- and engage the underside of the bolster when the latter rests on the member, as may be seen in Fig. 3. A spring seat '74 is provided between faces 7(1 and 72 of the wedge for engagement with the lower end of springs 44 and 46. The upper end of springs 44 and 4.6 engage the underside of the bolster when it is resting on the unit, as previously mentioned. The bolster in effect serves as the top wall of the spring cap to subject springs 44- and 46 to a predetermined initial compression, thereby urging wedges 40 into engagement with wear plates 38 with the force required to effectively damp the oscillations of the bolster support springs 14 and 16 in service.

Fig. 3 illustrates a typical application of my invention to a conventional railway car truck in which no friction system had been provided for controlling the oscillations of the bolster supporting springs. Side frame 52 comprises a compression member 54 and tension member 56 connected by a pair of spaced columns 58 and forming therebetween a bolster receiving opening 61). The lower ends of columns 58 are spaced apart a greater amount than the upper portions thereof to form a widened lower opening 60a of bolster receiving opening 60. Bolster 62 extends into opening 60 and rests on the spring package unit which is supported on spring seat portion 64 of tension member 56. In this particular embodiment a spring plank 66 is interposed between the spring group unit and the spring seat portion 64 of member 56. The bolster is provided adjacent both columns with outer guide lugs 68, which overlap the portions of columns 5% that are disposed above widened opening 60a, the lugs being of such vertical height as to pass through opening 50a to permit the bolster to be withdrawn from the frame. Thus it will be seen that the bolster is slidably interlocked with the side frame in the usual manner by means of guide lugs 68. While only one side frame with its associated bolster end is shown, it will be understood that the other side of the truck has a similar frame associated with the bolster It is to be noted that no change in the car truck has been required in order to apply the spring package unit.

Wedge springs 44 and 46 extend a predetermined amount above the top surface of the cap member when the springs are in free or uncompressed condition. Springs 44 and 46 are therefore placed under predetermined compression by the bolster when the latter is supported on the spring group, as in Fig. 3. It is to be understood that while the weight of the bolster alone may not be sufiicient to compress wedge springs 44 and 46 to the extent that the bolster engages the top surface of spring cap member 12, when the body rests on the bolster, there is more than enough weight to bring the bolster into contact with member 12 and in addition to compress bolster springs 14 and 16 a slight amount. Thereafter, additional loading of the bolster results only in the compression of springs 14 and 16, the compression of wedge springs 44 and 46 being unaffected by the bolster movement. This in turn assures a constant frictional force generated by the wedges against the wear plates. member 12, it in effect forms an abutment for the upper end of springs 44 and 46 that is fixed relative to the spring cap member. It will be appreciated that with this arrangement the need for locking devices for the pre-compression of said wedge springs and the bolster springs is eliminated.

To assemble my spring package unit, bolster springs 14 and 16 are placed in their respective positions on spring seat member 1G. Next, spring cap member 12 is positioned over the spring seat member 1t) and then lowered to its final position wherein spring cap member 12 rests on bolster springs 14 and 16. Friction wedges 40 are then inserted from the top through openings 48 provided in cap member 12 into wedge receiving pockets 42. Wedge springs 44 are also inserted through openings 48 into pocket portions 42 and onto spring seats 74 on wedges 46). Spring 44 extends above top wall 20 prior to installation of the unit in a car truck. Insertion of friction wedges 40 and wedge springs 44 is illustrated in Fig. l in exploded relation.

A feature of my invention resides in the provision of openings 48 in top wall 20, the openings being adapted to accommodate facile insertion of friction Wedges 40 from above the unit. Openings 48 may be rectangular shaped corresponding to the horizontal cross-section of friction wedges 40. Prior to my invention, assembly of the unit consisted of a procedure whereby friction wedges 40 were placed in pocket portions 42 from the underside of box portion 22. Then, with friction Wedges 40 man ually held in place in pockets 42, spring cap member was positioned over and placed onto bolster springs 14 and 16. On the other hand, my invention eliminates this assembly problem by permitting facile application of friction wedges 40 through openings in the top Wall of the cap member. This reduces the assembly procedure merely to that of simple application of the component parts of the unit in sequential order, without any need of special tools or implements.

In applying the assembled spring package unit to a car truck, the bolster is first raised to its highest position in bolster-receiving opening 60 (Fig. 3) of the side frame. Next, the unit is placed on seat 66 in opening 60 and the bolster is lowered into engagement with the spring cap 12 of the unit, wedge springs 44 and 46 being thereby compressed a predetermined amount, as illustrated in Fig. 3. It will be understood that the assembled unit is of such height that with the bolster raised to its uppermost position in opening 60, the unit may be readily applied to the side frame, even though wedge springs 44 and 46 in their uncompressed condition extend above spring cap member 12. To remove the unit the above procedure is reversed.

In view of the fact that A. A. R. bolster springs are stocked by most of the railroads, and since my spring package unit utilizes such springs, all that need be shipped to the railroads are the spring cap member, the spring seat member complete with wear plates, the wedges and wedge springs. These parts, together with standard bolster springs from a railroads stockroom may then be readily assembled in the field to form the spring pack- Once the bolster rests on spring cap age unit. This convenience will result in substantial savings to the railroad and permits ready replacement in the field of any spring broken in service.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation and I have no intention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof, but recognize that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention claimed.

I claim:

1. A spring package unit comprising a spring seat mem ber, springs on said member, a spring cap member resting on said springs, said seat member having an upwardly extending central housing portion, said cap member having a box portion on the underside extending downwardly therefrom for receiving said housing portion, said box portion having wedge receiving pockets therein, friction wedge means disposed in said pockets in engagement with said housing portion, spring means in said box portion for urging said wedge means into engagement with said housing and said box portion, said cap member having openings extending therethrough, said openings being of such a size as to accommodate the insertion of said wedge means into said box portion during assembly of the unit.

2. A spring package unit comprising a spring seat member, springs on said member, a cap member on said springs, said cap member having a depending box portion defining a wedge receiving pocket, a friction wedge member in said pocket and engaging said members, said wedge member being in slidable engagement with said seat member, spring means engaging said wedge member for actuating the same, said cap member having an opening in the top thereof of such size as to receive said wedge member during assembly of the unit.

3. In a spring package unit, spaced spring cap and seat members, springs between said members, said seat member having a vertically extending spring housing disposed centrally thereon, a box portion disposed on the underside of said cap member straddling said spring housing, friction means comprising friction wedges confined in said box portion, said wedges being in slidable engagement with opposite sides of said housing, springs supported on said wedges for actuating said wedges, said cap member having rectangular-shaped openings disposed above said wedges, said openings allowing entry of said wedges into said pockets during assembly of the unit.

4. A spring package unit comprising a cap member, a spring seat member, resilient means interposed between said members, said cap member having a depending box portion defining friction wedge pocket portions, said portions including wedge surfaces, said cap member having rectangularshaped openings disposed directly above said pocket portions, friction means comprising friction wedges disposed in said pocket portions and being in engagement with said wedge surfaces, wedge springs engaging each of said wedges for actuating the same, said openings permitting passage of said wedges into said pocket portions during assembly of the unit.

5. A spring cap member for a spring package unit comprising a top wall and a box portion on the underside of said wall, said portion including downwardly and inwardly extending walls defining friction wedge receiving pockets, said top wall having rectangular-shaped openings disposed directly above said pocket portions within the edges of said wall, said openings being adapted for entry of friction wedges therethrough during assembly of the unit.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,356,743 Light Aug. 29, 1944 2,527,356 Cottrell Oct. 24, 1950 2,657,039 Flesch Oct. 27, 1953 2,661,944 Hamilton Dec. 8, 1953 

